Self e-service is the name of the game, and Yub' is attempting to help
everyone win, whether the users are company administrators, customer
service representatives (CSR) or the customers themselves. Built from the
ground up for the Web and available for in-house licensing or as a hosted
solution, Yub' e-Services Suite enables businesses of all sizes to
quickly bring their entire post-sales customer services operations online
and harness the Web for self-service delivery and collaborative problem
resolution.
The e-Services Suite includes several Web applications in order to
build one comprehensive solution that is ready for customer use. The Yub'
Knowledge Base enables customer service organizations to build a
repository of reusable problem resolutions and frequently asked questions
(now separated as its own FAQ application), allowing customers to quickly
find their own solutions to problems at any time of the day. Yub'
e-Support allows customers to submit new support requests, obtain
information with the Yub' Knowledge Base, track open support requests,
add updates, escalate issues and collaborate with the service
representative when necessary. Defect Tracking allows quality assurance,
engineering and services organizations to diagnose and fix product quality
issues through internal and external collaboration. The Field Service
application enables organizations to implement prompt service delivery
processes to optimize the productivity of service professionals and keep
customers happy. The Events application helps manage scheduling and
tracking activities for corporate events, such as seminars, trade shows
and training courses; Yub's Conference Call schedules and tracks
conference calls; and the RMA application provides end-to-end support for
RMA management from initial request via online self-service to internal
processing of the RMA, based on service level agreements and the eventual
closure of the returns process by the customer.
Administration
Yub's Configurator is a Web-based administration interface that allows
authorized users to create and edit user accounts and customizes the
content, behavior and workflow of all of the applications in Yub's
e-Services Suite. We found it to be generally easy to navigate the
administration Web GUI. We could configure any account, site, contact or
employee as well as add product information. All we needed to do was enter
information like one would for any Web-based form. When adding an
employee, it is important to designate a role for the person, whether it
be as a staff user (CSR), account manager, sales rep or site
administrator, because the user's role dictates what software
capabilities and information the user may be able to access. For instance,
a site administrator would have access to all of the settings while a
staff user may have access to only the Accounts and Contacts tabs.
Appropriate settings may be given to these users based on their
responsibilities. Of course, customers would not have access to any
administration tabs and are automatically designated as end users.
Because of the intuitive GUI and Yub's Site Administrator Guide, we
were able to set up the rest of the administration settings for a simple
test case scenario. As the site administrator, we looked at each of the
fifteen tabs of the Configurator, which included the configuration options
for all of the applications. After entering our product and release for
our site, we added skills that may be attributed to our employees.
Incoming requests can be assigned automatically using Yub's
intelligent assignment engine based on each employee's skill set,
availability or other criteria. However, a company can choose to have the
requests routed manually.
We then configured assignment groups and other attributes, such as
escalate notification, for staff users on all appropriate applications. In
addition, we specified service level agreements. All of these
configurations were accomplished simply by filling out Web forms or
selecting the appropriate settings for each employee. Under the
preferences menu, we could personalize and customize our Web site and
e-mail notification messages, both of which would appeal to customers.
Additional reports can be created for customer, knowledge base or defect
requests and can be adeptly produced through the report generator. To make
entering information even easier, we could export and import CSV files
to/from programs such as Microsoft Excel. However, importing files may be
a little tricky since the files must contain specifically ordered strings.
Customer And CSR Interactions
After setting up the administration settings, we took a look at Yub's
e-Services Suite from both the customer and customer service
representative's perspective. Through our examination, we had first-hand
knowledge of all the applications and how they worked together. We first
looked at the online help functions via FAQs and the knowledge base and
self-service requests from customers. In other words, customers look to
see if their question or problem can be answered through the FAQ or
knowledge base. In most cases, this would indeed be all they need, but if
not, they would submit a support request. The latter is more common in
complex business-to-business problem resolution scenarios.
Then, as a CSR, we looked at the submitted requests and presented the
customer with e-mail notifications and online activity logs on the
progress of the request and how a resolution is being sought. On some
occasions, we escalated requests as a customer. Subsequently, some of
these requests were escalated a second time -- internally to upper
management in our organization. We could also make conference calls that
were scheduled and tracked in the system. Based on pre-defined criteria,
we also scheduled field service so customers could be helped onsite. Once
we decided a service request was finished, we closed the request, adding
it to the knowledge base or as a FAQ when desired. Sometimes, we would
also generate reports for the customer requests. On the whole, all of
these functions were handled effectively online via Yub's solution,
and maneuvering to each application was extremely easy.
Of course, no e-service system would be complete without extensive
collaboration features between customer and representative and across
multiple departments in an organization, even within and beyond a
firewall. This was also handled with ease by enabling a shared view of the
service request, a seamless integration of applications, easy browser
access and the effective use of e-mail notification. While Yub'
rightfully prides themselves on their suite's reliable and easy
self-service, we do think that chat collaboration upon customer request
and VoIP calls placed in strategic locations would be beneficial.
Fortunately, Yub' thought so too. As a result, they have partnered to
implement these features if their customers so desire.
Conclusion
Yub's entirely Web-based e-Services Suite is impressive. Its
implementation and usability are quite simple. Implementation takes only
days and the system requires very little training (the administration
training being only a few hours). As for the suite itself, it provides
very efficient self-service capabilities that enable customers to submit
and track service requests, collaborate and escalate the issue as
necessary and close the request upon a satisfactory resolution, without
the necessity of making a single call. After reviewing this product, we
were not surprised to discover that Yub's founders possess decades of
customer service experience'it shows in the excellence of their product.
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To The February 2002 Table Of Contents ]
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